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Topic: Little Signed Scandinavian Bowl (Read 1267 times)

Hello everyone!Can anyone help me figure out the signature on this little dish?Also, what technique was used. In Italian glass this would be called Sfumato (smoke bubbles), but im sure that another terminology would be used in the Scandinavian design. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

There are 3 names all around the bottom of the piece, and "- 02" at the end.Some of the signatures are very faint, therefore the high contrast of the photos to try and get all the detail I could.Thank you in advance for any information!Regards,Javier

I agree absolutely Adam.I have several pieces signed so neatly Nuutajarvi Notsjo J.N. (Jaakko Niemi) and I am certain that K.F. is Kaj Franck, in fact I think the F is followed by the rest of the name and reads Franck. It might be worth adding some talcum powder to it to see if the rest of the word shows more clearly.Such a lovely bowl Javier, lucky you!

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Rosie.

When all's said and done, there's nothing left to say or do. Roger McGough.

As Rosie points out the second part of the signature is just a little hard to make out, however, without doubt reads Kaj Franck, along with Nuutajarvi Notsjo, the other numbers I think read 62, for the year of production.

A lovely little dish—the date must be '52—these acid painted signatures were only used up until the early 50s when they were replaced by the engraved marks Rosie mentions. The style fits with Kaj Franck in the early 50s rather than early 60s too.

I'm not aware of a name for this design. I have a vase in the same basic decor, with the elongated bubbles on a background of the very, very fine bubbles you mention, which gives an almost milky look. They are often referred to as "Ariel", but I'm unsure as to the exact process—I doubt they are true Ariel. Perhaps "super controlled bubble" maybe a better description

If this is the bowl by Kaj Franck (and it looks like that to me) it is made as a kind of industrial ariel in that the glass was first blown into a mold to make the deep lines (rather than cutting them or sandblasting them as would have been done with ariel glass) and then the second layer of glass is cased over the grooved glass creating the long thin bubbles. It is done by hand of course and is not easy, but it is not ariel as it was done by Orrefors. I think Orrefors sent somebody over to look at the process to make sure it was not the same, because it looks so similar. In fact functionally it is the same. In a way, it is similar to the controlled bubbles in Gunnel Nyman's Huntu pieces in that they are first blown into a spiked mold and then cased, leaving the holes from the spikes as tiny bubbles. And the acid signature dates it to 1953 or before, as I understand. And the "smokey" treatment may also be the same kind of technique used by Nyman in some of her glass, where actual smoke was used in the process.